The National Migration Institute (INM) warned that all foreigners entering Mexico without health measures to prevent COVID-19 contagions could be fined with up to 10 years in prison.
In a statement, the INM informed that anyone who uses its facilities, including private people, civil and military authorities, must follow the health protocols to fight against COVID-19 .
In case these measures are not followed, the institute explained that, according to different penal codes, a person can spend from three days to 10 years in prison if they are sick with a serious infectious disease and put others at risk.
The Mexican institute released the statement just as a migrant caravan is set to arrive in our country bound to the United States.
The INM said that a prison sentence for migrants or authorities that spread the virus is a measure to protect foreigners.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic , migrant caravans are out on the streets in a bid to arrive in the United States and be granted asylum. On September 30, around 1,000 Hondurans started their journey.
The majority of migrants are from Honduras. According to journalist Orlando Escoto, the caravan is on its way to Corinto, close to Guatemala.
EL UNIVERSAL previously reported this caravan was organized through social media. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers called on Hondurans to leave the country on late September 30.
According to Itsmania Platero, a human rights activist based in Honduras, they are forced to abandon their country as a result of hunger , violence , and unemployment .
She added experts believe the latest caravan will be massive, formed by people and families who hope to arrive in the U.S. as asylum seekers .
In recent years, U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized migrant caravans and launched aggressive immigration policies to prevent them from legally establishing themselves in the U.S. Furthermore, the U.S. pushed Mexico to implement harsher measures to prevent Central American migrants from arriving at the border.
According to the migrants, political repression, violence, crime, and the economic crisis have forced them to flee their countries.
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